- Baffle
- Baffle Baf"fle (b[a^]f"f'l), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Baffled}
(-f'ld); p. pr. & vb. n. {Baffling} (-fl[i^]ng).] [Cf.
Lowland Scotch bauchle to treat contemptuously, bauch
tasteless, abashed, jaded, Icel. b[=a]gr uneasy, poor, or
b[=a]gr, n., struggle, b[ae]gja to push, treat harshly, OF.
beffler, beffer, to mock, deceive, dial. G. b["a]ppe mouth,
beffen to bark, chide.]
[1913 Webster]
1. To cause to undergo a disgraceful punishment, as a
recreant knight. [Obs.]
[1913 Webster]
He by the heels him hung upon a tree, And baffled so, that all which passed by The picture of his punishment might see. --Spenser. [1913 Webster]
2. To check by shifts and turns; to elude; to foil. [1913 Webster]
The art that baffles time's tyrannic claim. --Cowper. [1913 Webster]
3. To check by perplexing; to disconcert, frustrate, or defeat; to thwart. ``A baffled purpose.'' --De Quincey. [1913 Webster]
A suitable scripture ready to repel and baffle them all. --South. [1913 Webster]
Calculations so difficult as to have baffled, until within a . . . recent period, the most enlightened nations. --Prescott. [1913 Webster]
The mere intricacy of a question should not baffle us. --Locke. [1913 Webster]
{Baffling wind} (Naut.), one that frequently shifts from one point to another. [1913 Webster]
Syn: To balk; thwart; foil; frustrate; defeat. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.
